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A big hello to you all.......

Liz55

Liz55

Active Member
Messages
38
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi, I'm Liz aged 59 and have only recently been diagnosed with T2 Diabetes a couple of months ago. I suspected I may have Diabetes for a few months before that, but put down the losing weight and increasing tiredness down to the fact that I'd just started a new job and was running around more and eating erratically.

My Nurse told me that I could eat almost anything, just in smaller amounts and after starting off on just 1 tab of Metformin a day, recently upped me to 3. But I've never taken sugar in beverages, or eat much sweet stuff, or drink sweet fizzy drinks,or eat lots of carbs so not really sure what changes I can make in my diet. Admittedly I don't exercise, except my job keeps me on the go all the time.

After starting my meds I started to feel much better, not as tired as before and other typical symptoms subsided almost immediately, but worryingly in the last few days have started to come back. I haven't yet seen a dietician, but have been told I would be referred to one.(2 months down the line and still waiting).

My Nurse advised against buying a glucometer, mainly because she said the strips are so expensive, but I felt 'blind' not knowing how my BG levels are, especially as some symptoms had come back again, not sure if what I was feeling was due to lows or highs, so yesterday went and purchased one. So hopefully I'll be able to build a better picture to how I'm responding to treatment, instead of the confusion I feel now re what and what not to eat, how much etc.

I would love to hear back from anyone, with any tips and advice you could offer me. Thanks for your time .

Liz
 
hi, welcome :)

i like the way you write

great that you got yourself the meter, your reasoning is bang on, maybe you could give us an idea of a typical days food and we could have a look at what foods are eating, maybe offer a little advice

best of luck with the testing


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Welcome Liz, You seem to have got the same advice about food that most get @daisy1 will be along soon to provide you with same basic information. In a nut shell that flour you have in your bread = sugar, those potatoes=sugar. It isn't just sugar is the point I am making. You need to consider the amount of carbohydrate you are consuming and also how fast the body converts this into sugar. Things like bread, potatoes, rice, ... this is very fast (in fact white bread is faster than granulated sugar).

There are 2 types of diet: Low glycemic index (slow releasing carbs), or low carb (the amount in low carb varies between people). I am on a medium carb diet now ~150g-200g per day but a few months ago I was on about 90g

You didn't say how active you are. Activity is very important and will work wonders on lowering you blood glucose levels. If, like me, you really did nothing then a good starting point is to go for a 20 minute walk at about 1 hour after starting to eat. This is the point when your glucose levels are likely to be highest and the walk will make the muscles take up the glucose (our bodies do not seem to do it at the right level when dormant). If you can't get out then "walking the stairs" is also good - walk up and down a flight of stairs about 20 times (250ish steps)

Good luck and keep asking questions
 
Andrew Colvin said:
Welcome Liz, You seem to have got the same advice about food that most get @daisy1 will be along soon to provide you with same basic information.
Click to expand...

Hi Liz and welcome to the forum:)

Here is the information we give to new members which Andrew mentioned in his post above. Ask more questions and you will get plenty of replies.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find nearly 100,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
Hi and welcome. You've done the right thing in buying a meter. This will guide you in the foods that affect you most and I'm sure you will find that carbs are the problem and high-GI ones (e.g. white flour-based) will have the biggest spikes. Sadly the nurse is wrong in saying you can eat almost anything in small portions. Small portions can be best but carbs are bad news as your meter will tell you but protein, fats and veg are OK
 
Hi welcome. I think your nurse must come from the same stable as mine! I got exactly the same advice from her as you did, and, like you , have never taken sugar in drinks, on cereals , not had lots of sweet cakes etc, so really wasn't sure what to do. I did manage over 2 years without a monitor, but she gave me one last time as the next step is takin gliclizide -already on metformin.

I think I am managing to bring my bg down, now I can see the effect certain foods have on me, and, from reading the posts on the form I have gained so much knowledge. I now look at how many carbs are in food not just the sugar content.

Good luck
 
...hi Liz, I'm an avid label reader and used to only read the 'of which sugar' under the carbohydrate listings as I didn't know the starchy carbs were as bad for me but I gradually started to question it and joining this forum confirmed that I wasn't unusual after all.....well not with the way I handle carbs as a diabetic lol.

.....you'll find so much help on here as I have and so many useful ideas and tips...good luck....:)
 
Andrew Colvin said:
Welcome Liz, You seem to have got the same advice about food that most get

There are 2 types of diet: Low glycemic index (slow releasing carbs), or low carb (the amount in low carb varies between people). I am on a medium carb diet now ~150g-200g per day but a few months ago I was on about 90g

You didn't say how active you are
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply, I certainly need to get more exercise, I like your idea of having a walk after a meal.

How do you know how much carbs you can take. No one told me how much I should restrict to, just to reduce overall amounts?



Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Daibell said:
Hi and welcome. You've done the right thing in buying a meter. This will guide you in the foods that affect you most and I'm sure you will find that carbs are the problem and high-GI ones (e.g. white flour-based) will have the biggest spikes. Sadly the nurse is wrong in saying you can eat almost anything in small portions. Small portions can be best but carbs are bad news as your meter will tell you but protein, fats and veg are OK
Click to expand...

Thanks for replying Daisy. Yeh, I'm finding that out now after 2 months, as the symptoms have started to come back. Did my testing today and the results shocked me. I expected the BG level to be raised, but not so much. Am going to have to be more careful in what I eat, and test frequently to be able to build up a better picture.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Pollylocks said:
...hi Liz, I'm an avid label reader and used to only read the 'of which sugar' under the carbohydrate listings as I didn't know the starchy carbs were as bad for me but I gradually started to question it and joining this forum confirmed that I wasn't unusual after all.....well not with the way I handle carbs as a diabetic lol.

.....you'll find so much help on here as I have and so many useful ideas and tips...good luck....:)
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was doing, just paying attention mainly to sugar content, and cutting down on portion sizes of my meals generally. I'm finding that's not enough. I'm so glad I found this forum and all the advice here is going to help me a lot. Thanks for taking time to reply.

BTW I love your name Pollylocks :-)


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Just an update of today. Had an extra long lie in and took a fasting BG test, and (shock) it was 10.3mmol/l......higher than my levels all day yesterday. I expected it to go down overnight! I gather the small portion of pasta with seafood for my evening meal didn't do me much good except stave off the hunger.

Had breakfast of a 2 egg omelette with small amount of cheese on 1 slice of white bread, a bowl of porridge ( told oats are good) without sugar and a cup of coffee, no sugar as is how I've always taken it, small amount of milk. 2 hours later did a post meal test and (horror of horrors) my BG had leapt to 14.7 ...what!! (Panic now setting in.)

This afternoon, well evening.... I ate out, (thought I needed some good protein food), with some good sized portions of shish kebab, lamb chops, and grilled fish with plenty of salad, small portion of basmati rice with a piece of Naan bread, (testing food here), ;-) and surprise, surprise after just re testing I'm down to 9.1! Not sure how that came about.

So really I've only had 2 meals, if I'd stayed home I most likely would have had a light snack and so the result would have been higher. Now I've had Fruit salad for supper.

Q. Which fruits are high in sugar content and should be avoided.

I can see the levels are still higher than recommended for T2, and I need to do a lot of work on how I eat.

Q. How many times a day do you think I need to check my BG levels?

I was just told to take my Meds (Metformin) three times a day after meals. What if my meal is delayed, how close can I take the doses of Metformin to each other? Sometimes I have missed a dose as a delayed meal meant there would be only a couple of hours or 3 before I was due to eat and take another dose.

Input of my diet for today, and how the BG spiked would be appreciated. Thanks all


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi Liz,
Your high fasting BG level is likely to be due to 'dawn phenomenon', our BG drops overnight and our bodies kindly give us a shot of BG to get us up and about. The pasta would have caused a spike after eating it but probably not through to the morning.

Your spike following your breakfast is likely to be down to the bread and porridge unfortunately, particularly if you made the porridge with milk (full of lactose)
Anything ending in 'ose' (glucose, fructose, dextrose, lactose etc) is basically sugar.

Your evening meal was great, your BG probably would have been lower if you'd skipped the rice and naan bread.
Not sure the fruit salad is a good idea, shop bought/tinned are usually full of syrup.

Most fruit contains high levels of fructose, particularly 'exotic' fruits, however berries are fairly low in fructose so tend to suit us better.

I was checking my BG around 7 times a day at first (fasting, post breakfast, pre & post lunch, pre & post dinner, before bed), now I'm testing less but always after new food.

I take 4 metformin, 2 am and 2 pm, I take them just before breakfast and just before/after dinner, sometimes I forget my pm dose and take it before bed or sometimes not at all! I don't think there's too much of an issue if you take them closer together, but I'm not medically qualified to advise on that so probably best to check with a pharmacist or your healthcare team.

I've cut out rice, pasta, bread, potato, milk and of course added sugar, and seem to have good control over my BG.

Hope this helps, oh and welcome to the forum :)
 
Nuts are very good and make a great pudding.
If you are going to eat fruit try berries raspberries, blueberries, strawberries,... (you now have to have strawberries and cream for health reasons) or may be a small apple. Try and steer clear of bread in its many forms. There seems to be a couple of exceptions to this: Bergen linseed and soya or livelife. Most people seem to tolerate these but generally one slice.

To answer your question of "How much carb is the right amount?" That is a personal decision. Some on here are down as low as 30g per day. I went down to 60g-90g on first diagnosis but I was following a very low calorie diet (in fact I am still on a restricted diet to continue to lose weight but up over 150g now). If you cut your carb intake you will lose weight so you need to compensate with more fats and proteins. From your blood sugar readings you do seem to need cut them to gain control.

Testing at this stage I would suggest the following: When you get up (fasting), just before you eat (pre-prandial), 2 hours after you started to eat (post-prandial) and as you go to bed. Keep a food diary and an exercise log.

If you use a computer (not a phone or tablet at the moment) you can use my program I have written http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/writing-bg-management-app.56644/

If you wish to read the approach I took to turn around my life (not just my diabetes) then please do, you can find in this thread http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/got-my-first-3-month-hba1c-results-this-morning.55719/
It is the first 3 months of my so far 5 month journey May be it will give you some food for thought

Good luck and keep posting. Oh and welcome to the club that the rest of the world are trying their hardest to join.
 
Welcome Liz, can't really add to anything already said, but you've certainly come to the right place!
 
sanguine said:
That's one I've not done - possibly because we eat fairly late and it's not much after my +2.
Click to expand...
We tend to eat earlier but I set myself a rule to not go to bed above 5.7 and would do some exercise to bring it down (my infarmous stairs) if I am too high. I did this because I always found my morning numbers were better when my bedtime numbers were lower
 
Andrew Colvin said:
We tend to eat earlier but I set myself a rule to not go to bed above 5.7 and would do some exercise to bring it down (my infarmous stairs) if I am too high.
Click to expand...

Thump thump thump ...
"For heaven's sake, when are you coming to bed?" :mad:
"In a minute dear, just got 0.2 to go ..." :rolleyes:
":banghead: "
 
Andrew Colvin said:
We tend to eat earlier but I set myself a rule to not go to bed above 5.7 and would do some exercise to bring it down (my infarmous stairs) if I am too high. I did this because I always found my morning numbers were better when my bedtime numbers were lower
Click to expand...

Hahahaha!!
 
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